Lost Attic Photos Unveil Hidden Chapter of WA’s Historic Pilbara Strike
An extraordinary cache of decades-old photographs found in a Fremantle attic is shedding new light on the historic 1946 Pilbara strike. The rare images capture the resilience and economic independence of Indigenous pastoral workers who walked off the job to fight for their rights.
For Nyamal elder Captain Wilson, a glance at a decades-old photograph brings a flood of memories. Looking at an image of two men standing on the sun-baked earth of the Pilbara desert, the resident of a Roebourne nursing home immediately recognizes the solemn young man on the left. It is himself, arms tensed, preparing to lift a heavy air compressor. But it is his companion in the frame who holds his gaze. "He was my friend," he recalls quietly.
This striking image is just one of dozens of recently recovered photographic slides that have emerged from a dusty attic more than 1,500 kilometers away. Taken across Western Australia’s Pilbara region during the 1950s and 1960s, these snapshots capture a vital but often overlooked chapter of Australian history: a self-determined, revolutionary Indigenous movement operating on the very edges of the nation.
A Hidden History Brought to Light
The rare collection is making its public debut at the University of Western Australia’s Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery in Perth. The exhibition, titled Strike Camps: The Photographs of John Wilson, offers an intimate look at the aftermath of the landmark 1946 Pilbara strike, which served as a crucial precursor to the modern Indigenous land rights movement—occurring two decades before the famous Wave Hill walk-offs.
In 1946, hundreds of Aboriginal stockmen and women walked off pastoral stations across the Pilbara. For years, they had built the region's wealthy pastoral industry while receiving little more than meager rations of tea, sugar, and tobacco. Spanning multiple language groups, their coordinated strike lasted three grueling years, marking one of the longest industrial actions in Australian history.
Refusing to return to the stations, many strikers established independent mining cooperatives and pearl shell ventures. Using traditional tools like the yandy—a shallow dish used to sort minerals—they achieved a level of economic autonomy that challenged the state's racial and social hierarchies of the era.
Iconic Moments of Resilience
The photographs were captured by the late anthropologist John Wilson (no relation to Captain Wilson), who became captivated by how the community organized themselves into independent mining and shell-collecting camps. His daughter, Bu Wilson, stumbled upon the historic slides while clearing out her parents' Fremantle home.
"I saw boxes under a wardrobe, and I went, 'I don't know what those are,'" she said, describing the moment she rediscovered the vibrant, translucent slides depicting workers toiling under vast, cloudless blue skies. "It’s fantastic being able to share this body of work with other people."
For Darren Jorgensen, an art history professor at UWA, the images carry immense historical weight, drawing comparisons to iconic photographs of the Gurindji walk-off. "There's a couple of pictures here that have that same iconic value," Jorgensen noted. "One of them is of Captain Wilson about to lift an air compressor... these guys were really out there on their own, economically independent."
A Legacy of Pride
For Captain Wilson’s family, the exhibition is a deeply emotional tribute to a generation that refused to back down. His daughter and exhibition co-curator, Ursula Wilson, hopes the images will dismantle long-held stereotypes. "Looking at the pictures here, it shows that they are very hard-working people," she said. "It was a tough time, and they endured a lot."
Another daughter, Sharon Coppin, who traveled to Perth to accompany her father to the exhibition’s opening, expressed immense pride in his journey. "Just knowing what he's been through... it makes me very emotional and proud," she said. "Proud that he's come a long way."